Actual versions of Ja2+fix and Ja2+AI you can find in
Editing old posts is not possible in this forum, so I cannot fix old broken links.

Hi, is this the latest version of Ja2 1.13?

I use to play ja2 UB years ago and I LOVED it, I never knew about all of these mods, I stumbled upon this community and was totally blown away by all of the work everyone has put in to build upon, honour and breathe life back into this great game.

My lold aptop broke and I done some research and picked up the Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming (7577) running windows 10 it is meant to be a good enter gaming laptop and should be more than capable of running newer titles and this gem.

The problem I have is, I have no real technical knowledge on modding or anything of that nature but what I wanted to know was

Which is the best version of ja2 base game to buy to add the mods on to? Gold(steam?)

Which zip software is best to use to be able to use extract and use these mods? [b][7Zip?/b]

What is the latest best version of Ja2 1.13 to download and play? It seems as though there are two different type of builds the first being stable builds which don't look like they have been updated since 2014 and unstable builds, I am unsure on which is the latest version with all of the content, least buggy and compatible with other mods and where I can download it.

Does anyone know where I can read up on editing the ini settings correctly also as I hear that is very important to configure correctly once the mods are correctly loaded on.

Also I am not sure if the latest 1.13 contains all of the up to date mods, if not could anyone please recommend to me a few of the other must have mods which are compatible with the latest 1.13 that an old fan must experience in your opinion.

I don't intend to spam of clog up the thread so any compassionate veterans of this forum who can offer insight and help would be greatly appreciated I can be contacted here or in my pm/dm

A lot of the threads haven't had any replies for years I wasn't sure if I am making these requests in the correct thread, I apologise.

Really excited to get this game up and running again after all of these years, thank you all once again for all of your hard work.

You have Win10 -- you will have to apply the Win8+ fixes found in the ../Docs/Windows Compatibility fixes folder. Win10 is not nice to JA2 and older games but can be made to comply.

The "Stable" build (r7609) lacks many of the new features added to v1.13 but has the benefit being compatible with Sevenfm's Experimental Executable which adds most (if not all) of the bug fixes of the latest build, and a much advanced AI (lacking in the latest build). You might as well get them both and try them both out. Once Gold is installed you can copy it to other folders and all of them will work. In that way you can have a latest build install and a 7609 install.

As for mods . . . it's personal preference so try them all -- there's countless months of enjoyment there.

Any zip software should work. I use 7zip.

Editing the ini settings is also personal preference for the most part - so again, play and experiment because it's all basically personal preference. The default settings can get you started.

Sevenfm offers a modpack (in his sig) with the mods compatible with 7609. I'm not sure what mods are compatible with the latest build - someone else will have to answer that one.

Wildfire 6.07 should work with latest build without problems, there are also experimental versions of Wil473's mods (AFS and UC) for unstable release. And there is epic Aimnas-Unfinished-Bigmaps mod that works with unstable (though older versions work well with stable 7609).
Simple map mods (like NOps maps) should work, too, but more complex mods will require some XML work to update data.

As for Win10, it's recommended to apply registry patch (but dll patch will work too with some minor graphical problems).

If you want to play stable 7609, I would recommend to start with Arulco Revisited + SDO, as it's well balanced both for NCTH and OCTH and the maps are nice (but read about airport location in report).
For unstable, it's probably best to start with Wildfire 6.07 mod.

Thank you! so this is the latest unstable version with all of the recent updated content? Also does this contain some of Flugente's works by any chance they sound amazing.

edmortimer wrote on Fri, 09 February 2018 19:47

I'll attempt some answers to your questions.

Welcome!

Get the Gold version of JA2 (GOG.com) - less hassles.

You have Win10 -- you will have to apply the Win8+ fixes found in the ../Docs/Windows Compatibility fixes folder. Win10 is not nice to JA2 and older games but can be made to comply.

The "Stable" build (r7609) lacks many of the new features added to v1.13 but has the benefit being compatible with Sevenfm's Experimental Executable which adds most (if not all) of the bug fixes of the latest build, and a much advanced AI (lacking in the latest build). You might as well get them both and try them both out. Once Gold is installed you can copy it to other folders and all of them will work. In that way you can have a latest build install and a 7609 install.

As for mods . . . it's personal preference so try them all -- there's countless months of enjoyment there

Any zip software should work. I use 7zip.

Editing the ini settings is also personal preference for the most part - so again, play and experiment because it's all basically personal preference. The default settings can get you started.

Sevenfm offers a modpack (in his sig) with the mods compatible with 7609. I'm not sure what mods are compatible with the latest build - someone else will have to answer that one.

Hi thank you for your help, the Win8+ fixes are they the same as the registry patch mentioned below? Also I am still unaware of which is which version, thank you for breaking down the differences between the two, please pardon my ignorance, so The "Stable" build (r7609) is pretty much free of bugs as is the latest build but the stable is missing a lot of content from the latest build but it does have the bonus of advanced AI.

The link sevenfm sent me above is that the latest unstable build with all of the new content or the stable one I am unsure?

Also is the Sevenfm's Experimental Executable already included in the latest stable build or does it require a separate download?

From speaking with you it sounds like I would be enjoying the latest unstable build with latest content, find my feet with that and then move forward from there and try to learn how to add other mods ontop of this.

I have noticed members on here saying they cannot go back and edit old posts so does that mean I should be scrolling through to the latest pages and comments of the relevant threads to find the latest download version link rather than using the original threads first post, maybe I'm mistaken.

Regarding getting started basically I should get the Gold version of JA2 from (GOG.com), then copy the main program files folder to my desktop and then apply the build/mods extractions to that folder using 7zip overwriting everything making sure to not do this to the original program files folder. Thank you for taking the time to respond I appreciate it, have a great Friday night.

sevenfm wrote on Fri, 09 February 2018 20:04

Wildfire 6.07 should work with latest build without problems, there are also experimental versions of Wil473's mods (AFS and UC) for unstable release. And there is epic Aimnas-Unfinished-Bigmaps mod that works with unstable (though older versions work well with stable 7609).
Simple map mods (like NOps maps) should work, too, but more complex mods will require some XML work to update data.

As for Win10, it's recommended to apply registry patch (but dll patch will work too with some minor graphical problems).

If you want to play stable 7609, I would recommend to start with Arulco Revisited + SDO, as it's well balanced both for NCTH and OCTH and the maps are nice (but read about airport location in report).
For unstable, it's probably best to start with Wildfire 6.07 mod.

Hi, the Win8+ fixes mentioned above are they the same as the registry patch that you mentioned, as I am trying to avoid graphical issues, do you know where I can find a tutorial or something on where to acquire and how to accomplish this registry patch?

It sounds like what I am aiming for is the latest unstable build with all of the new content and the wildfire 6.07 mod from your recommendations, I hear wildfire really improves the world maps and that is something I am excited to see.

Thank you once again for all of your help sevenfm, I will put a few hours into the forums and hopefully grab a better understanding of what is what and get familiar on how to do things and be able to understand a lot of the terminology on the forums, have a great weekend.

I am not familiar with the Win8+ fixes because I use Win7, but AFAIK there are 2 fixes, a DLL fix and the registry patch. Perhaps Sevenfm or another will point you to the registry fix.

The link Sevenfm sent is for the latest 'unstable' build with all of the new content (Flugente's features).

Adding most mods is easy now because we have a virtual file system setup - so all VFS mods install alongside the original game and alongside the v1.13 mod. Adding older mods that do not conform to the VFS system is best done on a separate install of the game because they will overwrite the original game and disrupt the VFS setup. Sevenfm's modpack of the 'stable" (r7609) build contains all VFS mods that are compatible with that build -- so you can switch from one mod to another as they are all there.

Sevenfm's executable only works with the 'stable' build, not the latest build.

Do not install the original game into Windows Program Files folder, or to any Windows system folder. Create a separate folder away from Windows to install the game. Once you've done that you can copy the entire installation to as many other folders (or flash drives) as you want. Create a launcher icon on your desktop to launch each individual install. I wouldn't copy the installation itself to the desktop - but then I'm old school.

The game is now nearly infinitely customizable - play, customize, enjoy!